Speciality spirits: feeling fruity

Fruit-flavoured speciality spirits tend to be like the fruits they are made from: they burst forth in the summer. The longer, warmer days usher in a boom time for Pimm's, Malibu and their ilk.

While this popularity has brought success for these brands, their owners have understandably been keen for them to appeal year-round. One thing is certain: this sub-section of speciality spirits is a vibrant one. Over the next two pages, the brand owners talk us through the trends in the market, and their plans to give these spirits a sunny outlook in your pub in the coming months.

Pimm's

Brand owner: Diageo

Fruit flavour: Spiced citrus

Pimm's could be found in The Publican's ​recent Brands Report in the 71-80 bracket of the top 200 brands. No. 1 Cup, with its gin base and subtle citrus flavour, can claim to be one of the kings of speciality spirits. This year, it is seeking to cement that position with a 20 per cent increase in spend on its summer promotional campaign. This will involve more advertising based around the 'Anyone for Pimm's?' strapline and taking the Pimm's Bus and mobile bar around music festivals and other events.

Key to its strategy, though, is bolstering Pimm's sales outside the summer months - something helped by the success of Pimm's Winter, distribution of which has increased by 49 per cent in the past year, according to brand manager Matt Campbell.

"It's a fantastic start point to have a very defined season," he says. "But the question has been how to stimulate demand for the rest of the year." The launch of Pimm's Winter has gone some way to doing this.

Offering pitchers of Pimm's is an effective way to draw in customers, Campbell adds, "but many licensees serve it particularly well in a highball glass."

A draught Pimm's system, which aids visibility and speeds up pouring, is installed on around 750 bars.

Grand Marnier

Brand owner: Fior Brands

Fruit flavour: Orange

The orange cognac liqueur "has undergone a complete renaissance in the past 10 years, largely as a result of the cocktail revolution," says marketing manager Pierre Garbolino. Garbolino says its easy mixability has transformed what was once a dusty, unused back-bar standard into the base for quick, quality cocktails.

One example of this is the Mimosa Grand Marnier and a fizzy white wine or champagne."The main challenge is getting bartenders to realise how easy it is to use, and how profitable it is," Garbolino says. "These are easily made cocktails for which you can charge more than £3.50." The cherry variant, Cherry Marnier, can also be a simple cocktail ingredient for pubs, he adds.

Tuaca

Brand owner: Bacardi

Fruit flavour: Citrus and vanilla

The Tuaca story is a quirky one. In 1994, Brighton licensee Sammy Berry became a fan of the Italian spirit while on a snowboarding holiday in Colorado. She had never seen it in the UK, where it didn't have a distributor. Tuaca made such an impression on her that, after two years periodically travelling to Colorado to bring back batches of Tuaca on the flight, she contacted the distillery and secured the distribution rights for the UK. It has since become something of a phenomenon in Brighton.

Many licensees, whether of traditional pubs or style bars, liked what they tasted in Berry's pub, the Saint James, and decided to take it on for their own venues. It is now listed in 450 pubs and bars on the South East coast, and in July was moved into the Bacardi portfolio, where Berry works as its global brand ambassador.

"One of the things we like about it is that the process happened so naturally. We like to think of it as a bartenders' brand," says brand manager Charlotte Ashburner.

She is now looking to increase distribution across the UK through sampling this summer in seven key city centres: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast and Manchester. The brand manager admits: "We only have one major market and that's a single postcode in the UK." Ashburner says its ideal serve is in pitchers à la Pimm's, but it is also popular as a chilled shot.

Midori

Brand owner: Fior Brands

Fruit flavour: Melon

Midori - a spirit which, according to the brand's marketing manager, Nicki Daw, competes with Malibu and Archers - is set to benefit from a national roll-out from its Scottish heartland. "Midori is based in Scotland, so has a historic distribution network there," Daw explains. "We're now rolling it out to North East England, with plans to make it national within two to three years. The campaign will feature sampling activity, advertising outdoors and on TV.

"My challenge is to establish some signature drinks." These, Daw hopes, will come in the form of Midori and lemonade, Midori and sparkling apple juice and Midori and cranberry. The distinctive Midori bottle should be stocked in a prominent position on the back-bar "to create a talking point," she advises.

Malibu

Brand owner: Pernod Ricard

Fruit flavour: Coconut

The decline of RTDs has contributed to the success of fruity speciality spirits, as consumers who would previously have reached for a bottle of Bacardi Breezer or Reef are now reaching for these similarly sweet spirits to use as bases for long drinks. So says Lee James, customer development director for Pernod Ricard UK. Pernod Ricard is to invest £6.5m marketing Malibu over the next year, with new packaging introduced in the UK in May.

The new design is intended to "provide a more premium feel," says James.

A sampling campaign for Malibu and cranberry will also be rolled out, as well as new on-trade promotional material being introduced with the redesign.

A Pernod Ricard training programme for licensees is also available, one of the recommendations of which is that mainstream pubs need to stock specialities and liqueurs, largely in order to appeal to younger customers.

Passoa

Brand owner: Maxxium

Fruit flavour: Passion fruit

The passion fruit liqueur has grown by more than 40 per cent in the past two years, according to its brand manager, Victoria Bowstead. She identifies increasing interest in lower-alcohol spirits as reason for this growth of 17 per cent ABV Passoa.

The liqueur is grouped in with summer-centric bases for long drinks such as Malibu and Archers, according to Bowstead, who explains: "We focus on the signature serve of Passoa and orange. Customers don't always know how to drink it." Sampling activity in Newcastle last year sought to put Passoa and orange as a bar-call in the minds of potential customers.

Mandarine Napoleon

Brand owner: Pernod Ricard

Fruit flavour: Mandarin

It may not be as well known as some of the names on these pages, but this cognac-based brand has a niche in food-led pubs as an after-dinner drink, according to brand manager Catherine Rigby.

Mandarine Napoleon's bottle had a re-design last year to celebrate its 200th anniversary. "We changed the label to rejuvenate the brand," Rigby says. "People often perceive it as just a cognac but it is a more complex proposition than that."

She considers the competition to be citrus-flavoured liqueurs such as Cointreau or Grand Marnier, but says: "it is a different offering, lighter, with more appeal to women."

As well as a short after-dinner drink, Rigby recommends using the liqueur as a base for a Mandarito, a Mandarine Napoleon version of the Mojito.